Scripture Daily

Context No. 3094 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 1:8-17: in context

8Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division 9according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”

The old priest Zechariah is serving in the temple, chosen by lot to burn incense while the people pray outside. Suddenly an angel appears beside the altar, and Zechariah is afraid. But the angel says, do not be afraid; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, whom you shall name John, and he will be great before the Lord, filled with the Spirit from the womb, going before the Lord in the spirit of Elijah to prepare a people.

After four hundred years of prophetic silence, God begins to move again, and he begins in an ordinary moment of faithful duty, an old priest doing his appointed task, burning incense as he had done countless times. God's great acts so often begin in the midst of quiet faithfulness. And the angel's word, your prayer has been heard, suggests Zechariah and Elizabeth had long prayed for a child and perhaps given up hope. The answer came after long waiting, and far larger than they asked: their son would prepare the way for the Messiah. God had not forgotten the prayer they may have stopped praying.

Do I keep faithfully at my ordinary duties, trusting that God can begin something great there, and that prayers I have almost given up on are not forgotten by him?

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